KELOWNA – For many international students studying far from home, November is the time they really start to feel homesick. That’s what makes the timing of an event held Wednesday at UBC Okanagan so ideal.
The annual Global Fest event is giving students an opportunity to share food, music and traditions from the countries they’re from.
One international student, Rohma Nawaz, is in her second year at the university. She is far away from her home in Pakistan’s capital, Islamabad.
“I miss home, of course, who wouldn’t? I’m on the literal other side of the world but Canada is now also home,” says Nawaz.
With no family or friends in the Okanagan, it was a lonely place for Nawaz at first.
“I didn’t know anyone here, but I do now, so I have a home away from home which comes with an extended family of sorts,” she says.
Dozens of students like Nawaz who have come from far away to attend university in Kelowna showcased their roots at Global Fest. Held right on campus but open to the community the event attracts hundreds.
“It’s a chance for people from their own culture as well as anyone from the campus community to join those clubs and really understand about that country, about the people that come from that country and what their beliefs are,” says Leah Sanford, Manager of International Programs and Services at UBC Okanagan.
Sanford says close to 11 percent of the campus’ population are international students, representing more than 80 countries from around the globe.
“We are always hoping to have more diversity and maybe get 20 percent of our student population one day,” says Sanford.
She adds international students do more than diversify the culture on campus.
“They bring so much into the classroom. The conversations and the discussions that they have in, you know classes like sociology, in their history classes, in indigenous studies. I always hear from professors that it’s the international students that really bring diversity to the classroom,” explains Sanford.
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